Budapest
Singles – Second Round: (6) Chanelle Scheepers def. Petra Martic 7-5 6-4
Petra Martic came in at #109; this appears to mean no Top Hundred spot.
Singles – Second Round: Shahar Peer def. (8) Anna Tatishvili 6-1 6-1
Anna Tatishvili is slumping (she just fell out of the Top Hundred, although she may well make it back this week). Slumping opponent or not, this is one of the best results for Shahar Peer in recent months. Maybe she can build on it.
Singles – Second Round: Danka Kovinic def. Valeria Solovyeva 6-1 3-6 6-1
Both these two are ranked below #180, but Valeria Solovyeva at least has some experience. Danka Kovinic posts the best WTA result of her career; unfortunately, she was defending some points, so she will rise only a few places — from #183 to probably around #175.
Singles – Second Round: Alexandra Cadantu def. Andrea Hlavackova 4-6 7-5 4-0, retired
It looks as if this means Andrea Hlavackova will remain below #100. It’s tough to rebuild your ranking when you can’t stay healthy….
Doubles – First Round: Klemenschits/Klepac def. (2) Babos/Rosolska 7-5 6-1
This leaves us with only one seeded team left in the draw. Of course, since there were only eight teams in the field, there were only two seeded pairs to start with….
Doubles – First Round: Bratchikova/Tatishvili def. (WC) Bukta/Jani 7-5 6-3
Palermo
Singles – Second Round: (2) Roberta Vinci def. Polona Hercog 6-2 7-6(7-3)
It’s looking as if we might well see a final between the two doubles partners, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. Ironic, given that neither one can move in the rankings no matter what happens here.
Singles – Second Round: Estrella Cabeza Candela def. (3) Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 2-6 7-6(8-6)
This is pretty shocking, given how well Kristina Mladenovic has been playing lately. She will be no better than #38.
Singles – Second Round: (4) Klara Zakopalova def. Karin Knapp 6-3 4-6 6-4
This took more than two and a half hours (not the best news when they had another match to play!), and Klara Zakopalova failed miserably to serve it out, but she finally won it with a break. That ought to put Zakopalova back in the Top Forty.
Singles – Second Round: (5) Lourdes Dominguez Lino def. Nastassja Burnett 7-5 4-6 6-3
This will probably take Lourdes Dominguez Lino back above #55.
Doubles – Quarterfinal: (3) Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova def. Birnerova/Buyachok 6-0 6-2
Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova probably deserve to be seeded higher than #3 at a very weak international event. As that scoreline perhaps demonstrates.
Doubles – Quarterfinal: Pliskova/Pliskova def. Duque-Marino/Pereira 6-3 6-7(1-7) 12-10
Doubles – Quarterfinal: Garcia/Zanevska def. Knapp/Pennetta 7-6(10-8) 7-6(7-4)
Correction
Yesterday’s match by Sara Errani was incorrectly listed as a first round match. It was a second round match.
As Never Was
For seven years now, we have been computing mixed doubles rankings. That’s well and good and of interest to, oh, maybe 5% of the tennis world.
But, ironically, we never looked at the history of those rankings until two years ago. Of course, they don’t change much — just four times a year. But maybe it’s time to look at those rankings. At least we can look at the history of #1.
We started publishing Mixed ranks at Wimbledon 2005 (inspired by the fact that Wimbledon in that year arbitrarily tampered with the Wimbledon seeds, giving seeds to Knowles/V. Williams and O. Rochus/Clijsters even though it meant seeding players with no rankings in doubles). We’ve been doing it ever since. So here are the histories of the men’s and women’s Mixed #1 ranking. All rankings below are the rankings following the Slam listed.
Women’s #1:
Roland Garros 2005: Navratilova
Wimbledon 2005: Navratilova
U. S. Open 2005: Navratilova
Australian Open 2006: Navratilova
Roland Garros 2006: Navratilova
Wimbledon 2006: Zvonareva
U. S. Open 2006: Navratilova
Australian Open 2007: Navratilova
Roland Garros 2007: Likhovtseva
Wimbledon 2007: Likhovtseva
U. S. Open 2007: Likhovtseva
Australian Open 2008: Dechy
Roland Garros 2008: Azarenka
Wimbledon 2008: Srebotnik
U. S. Open 2008: Srebotnik
Australian Open 2009: Srebotnik
Roland Garros 2009: Huber
Wimbledon 2009: Huber
U. S. Open 2009: Huber
Australian Open 2010: Black
Roland Garros 2010: Black
Wimbledon 2010: Black
U. S. Open 2010: Black
Australian Open 2011: Black
Roland Garros 2011: Black
Wimbledon 2011: Black
U. S. Open 2011: Srebotnik
Australian Open 2012: Srebotnik
Roland Garros 2012: Vesnina
Wimbledon 2012: Vesnina
U. S. Open 2012: Vesnina
Australian Open 2013: Vesnina
Roland Garros 2013: Vesnina
Wimbledon 2013: Hradecka
Men’s #1:
Roland Garros 2005: B. Bryan
Wimbledon 2005: B. Bryan
U. S. Open 2005: Bhupathi
Australian Open 2006: Bhupathi
Roland Garros 2006: Bhupathi
Wimbledon 2006: Bhupathi
U. S. Open 2006: B. Bryan
Australian Open 2007: B. Bryan
Roland Garros 2007: B. Bryan
Wimbledon 2007: B. Bryan
U. S. Open 2007: A. Ram
Australian Open 2008: A. Ram
Roland Garros 2008: B. Bryan
Wimbledon 2008: B. Bryan
U. S. Open 2008: B. Bryan
Australian Open 2009: B. Bryan
Roland Garros 2009: B. Bryan
Wimbledon 2009: B. Bryan
U. S. Open 2009: Paes
Australian Open 2010: Paes
Roland Garros 2010: Paes
Wimbledon 2010: Paes
U. S. Open 2010: Paes
Australian Open 2011: Paes
Roland Garros 2011: Paes
Wimbledon 2011: Paes
U. S. Open 2011: Paes
Australian Open 2012: Paes
Roland Garros 2012: Paes
Wimbledon 2012: Paes
U. S. Open 2012: Paes
Australian Open 2013: Paes
Roland Garros 2013: Paes
Wimbledon 2013: Soares
To summarize, we have had ten #1 female players in this time: Azarenka*, Black, Dechy*, Hradecka* (our new #1), Huber, Likhovtseva, Navratilova, Srebotnik, Vesnina, Zvonareva* (players marked * were #1 on only one ranking list.) <{>Amazingly, we have had only five #1 men, all of them still active: Bhupathi, B. Bryan, Paes, A. Ram, and now (for the first time) Bruno Soares.
Bob Bryan was #1 on fully 12 of our 37 ranking lists — and might well still be up there if he hadn’t cut back on playing Mixed. Until Wimbledon 2013, Paes has been on top for the entire time since Wimbledon 2009. Clearly the two were dominant in their heydays. On the women’s side, we don’t find a dominant player; Navratilova and Black, each with seven Slams’ time atop the list, come closest. (Fascinating to note that both the latter achieved their status at the very end of their careers — or at least Black’s first career). Vesnina might have been able to threaten them, but now that she is doing so well in singles and women’s doubles, she is another who has cut back on playing mixed.
RANKINGS
Estimated WTA Rankings As of July 11, 2013
Rank &
Prior
Rank….Name…………..Points
1..(1) SWilliams ……… 11650
2..(2) Sharapova ……… 9235
3..(3) Azarenka ………..8825
4..(4) ARadwanska ………5965
5..(5) Li ……………..5555
6..(6) ERRANI ………….5100*
7..(7) Bartoli ……….. 4625
8..(8) Kvitova ……….. 4435
9..(9) Kerber ………….3970
10.(10) Wozniacki ……… 3660
11.(11) VINCI …………. 3060*
12.(12) Kirilenko ……… 2976
13.(13) Stosur ………….2965
14.(14) Jankovic ………..2925
15.(15) Flipkens ………..2888
16.(16) Stephens ………..2870
17.(17) Ivanovic ………..2740
18.(18) Lisicki ……….. 2650
19.(19) Petrova ……….. 2505
20.(20) Suarez Navarro …..2430
21.(21) Cibulkova ……… 2245
22.(22) Vesnina ……….. 1889
23.(23) Pavlyuchenkova …..1805
24.(24) Kanepi ………….1781
25.(25) Makarova ………..1742
26.(30) HALEP …………. 1675*
27.(28) Kuznetsova ………1657
28.(29) SAFAROVA ………..1655
29.(31) Hampton ……….. 1627
30.(32) CORNET ………….1605
DRAWS
Budapest — Week of July 8
…………….QF
1 Safarova……Kovinic
6 Scheepers…..(6)Scheepers
4 Beck……….(4)Beck
5 Larsson…….Meusburger
7 Torro-Flor….Babos
3 Halep………(3)Halep
8 Tatishvili….Peer
2 Cornet……..Cadantu
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Safarova…….lost 1R (Solovyeva)
2 Cornet………lost 1R (Hlavackova)
3 Halep
4 Beck
5 Larsson……..lost 2R (Meusburger)
6 Scheepers
7 Torro-Flor…..lost 2R (Babos)
8 Tatishvili…..lost 2R (Peer)
Palermo — Week of July 8
………………..QF
1 Errani (WC)…….(1)Errani(WC)
7 Soler-Espinosa….(7)Soler-Espinosa
4 Zakopalova……..(4)Zakopalova
8 Ka. Pliskova……Pfizenmaier
6 Begu…………..Voracova
3 Mladenovic……..Cabeza Candela
5 Dominguez Lino….(5)Dominguez Lino
2 Vinci………….(2)Vinci
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Errani (WC)
2 Vinci
3 Mladenovic……..lost 2R (Cabeza Candela)
4 Zakopalova
5 Dominguez Lino
6 Begu…………..lost 1R (Voracova)
7 Soler-Espinosa
8 Ka. Pliskova……lost 1R (Pfizenmaier)
THURSDAY
Bupdapest
Singles – Second Round
(6) Chanelle Scheepers def. Petra Martic 7-5 6-4
Shahar Peer def. (8) Anna Tatishvili 6-1 6-1
Danka Kovinic def. Valeria Solovyeva 6-1 3-6 6-1
Alexandra Cadantu def. Andrea Hlavackova 4-6 7-5 4-0, retired
Doubles – First Round
Klemenschits/Klepac def. (2) Babos/Rosolska 7-5 6-1
Bratchikova/Tatishvili def. (WC) Bukta/Jani 7-5 6-3
Palermo
Singles – Second Round
(2) Roberta Vinci def. Polona Hercog 6-2 7-6(7-3)
Estrella Cabeza Candela def. (3) Kristina Mladenovic 6-3 2-6 7-6(8-6)
(4) Klara Zakopalova def. Karin Knapp 6-3 4-6 6-4
(5) Lourdes Dominguez Lino def. Nastassja Burnett 7-5 4-6 6-3
Doubles – Quarterfinal
(3) Voracova/Zahlavova Strycova def. Birnerova/Buyachok 6-0 6-2
Pliskova/Pliskova def. Duque-Marino/Pereira 6-3 6-7(1-7) 12-10
Garcia/Zanevska def. Knapp/Pennetta 7-6(10-8) 7-6(7-4)